Indo-Lanka Chamber of Commerce 10th Annual General Meeting

The 10th Annual General Meeting of the Indo-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held on 13 August at the Taj Samudra in Colombo. High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu was the Chief Guest. Export Development Board Chairperson Indira Malwatte and many industry leaders attended the event.

Speaking at the event, High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu commended the entrepreneurs for their spirit and hard work in bringing prosperity to both countries. He mentioned the key milestones in the relationship between India and Sri Lanka in the past year.  He pointed out the increased momentum in summit interactions between the leadership of the two countries.  He also spoke about the strengthened bilateral development partnership. The High Commissioner noted that India has delivered on the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last visit to Sri Lanka in a timely manner: the launch of direct flights between Colombo and Varanasi, the island-wide launch of the emergency ambulance service, and the handing over of the first lot of the 14,000 houses for plantation workers in the upcountry. He reiterated that India›s development efforts in Sri Lanka was aimed at touching the lives of people and making a genuine difference in their lives. 

He then pointed out that the two governments alone cannot create the magic of development and that the industries of the two countries have an important role to play in crafting the developmental trajectory. 

He quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words from his speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Hyderabad last November, where he mentioned the traits of entrepreneurs: «Power to think differently and ahead of the time for the betterment of mankind is what sets entrepreneurs apart.” He urged the industry leaders to look far and ahead. 

Indo-Lanka Chamber President Vish Govindswamy in his speech spoke about that active engagement between the industries of the two countries marked by an increase in interaction between the Chambers of Commerce of the two countries and business delegation visits. He enumerated the efforts made by the Indo-Lanka Chamber in helping business grow between the two countries.